Sharpmaker question...

[Disco Stu]

Hey Spyderco,

Have you ever considered making an "extra-coarse" set of rods for the Sharpmaker? Sold seperately of course.

I sharpened an Italian stiletto on my Sharpmaker last week and it took almost 6 hours! The angle on the knife out-of-the-box, was around 55 or 60. I know, I know, I should have used a benchstone and tried to match the angle already on the blade, but I wanted it matched to the 40 degree angle on the Sharpmaker. Had to remove a lot of steel because of the bayo blade, but I finally got there.

Anyway, It seems to me that a set of rods made for angle shaping would be a good idea.

 

[DAFOX]

Sal:

People need those diamond speed sleeves back that were available for the 203. Have a set and they save a lot of time if new bevel is required, or to remove those nicks in the edge. Then to the STD. rods.

Dave

 

[Codeman]

Disco Stu,

I'm with you on this and I also wish we could get the stones in the ultra fine ceramic as well. Sigh...

In the meantime, someone on BF gave me a great tip. Remove one of the triangle stones and then lean your benchstone on the other one. I use a Razor Edge System's coarse stone this way and it is perfect for re-profiling to the Sharpmaker's angles. It's not very handy, but how often do you need to do this in the field?

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Knowledge without understanding is knowledge wasted.
Understanding without knowledge is a rare gift - but not an impossibility.
For the impossible is always possible through faith. - Bathroom graffiti, gas station, Grey, TN, Dec, 1988

AKTI Member #A000831

[This message has been edited by Codeman (edited 09-29-2000).]

 

[Brian C]

I've bugged Sal on numerous times about diamond sleeves/rods/stones for the 204. (Please consider this to be another nudge, Sal.

) Apparently, it is in the works with some details still to be worked out.

I've tried leaning a diamond bench stone against one of the ceramic rods, as other have suggested, but found it to be very awkward at best. I have, however, had very good success recently using a diamond rod in the 204's base. Here's the deal...

A friend had given me a Chef's Choice Edge Crafter pocket diamond steel (medium grit). This is a retractable rod, approximately 3/16" diameter with about 4" of usable surface, in a brass sleeve with pocket clip.

Anyway, if you look into the 204's base you will find that there are round holes at the bottom of each stone opening. I removed the diamond steel from the brass sleeve and tried fitting it to these round holes. It fit with some play in the round hole itself but, when the steel is allowed to rest against the side of the stone cutout, the play is eliminated.

Although the resulting angle may not be an exact match to that of the ceramic stones, I found that it is close enough to allow me to use it for reprofiling. To date, I have used this method to reprofile the edges on 4 khukuris (5160 steel, hardened to 57-60 RC or so, 8-12"+ blades). It may be there but I couldn't detect a difference in sharpening angle when switching over to the ceramic stones. Of course, YMMV.

FWIW, I did experience a loss of some diamonds from the steel when using this method. Frankly, in light of the time it saved me & the excellent results I achieved, I don't care. There is still life left in the steel & I'll simply replace it if & when necessary.


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Cheers,
Brian

He who finishes with the most toys wins.

 

[SELWYN]

I recently purchased a set of diamond V rods that work great. 7" long and a beefy 5/16" diameter. They seem to be set at the same angle as the 204. The price was more than reasonable.

Model DS-3500
Lohman Mfg. Co.
417-451-4438

Selwyn